This invention relates to laser surgery centers, and in particular, to mobile laser surgery centers.
Surgical procedures to correct vision conditions such as nearsightedness have typically been performed in hospital settings or doctors' offices with large pieces of equipment. Lasers have recently been adapted for use in refractive surgery to correct such eye conditions. Laser surgery overcomes many of the problems associated with the prior surgical devices. Particularly, lasers are relatively small and can thus be transported and made mobile.
Mobile lasers are mounted in trucks or semi-trailers, which have been converted to an office setting. For the laser to operate properly, the laser optics must be properly aligned. Because the roads over which the center is transported are not perfectly smooth, the laser will be jostled during transport from one location to another. The laser will therefore come out of alignment. It must thus be realigned each time the mobile surgical center is transported to a new location. An alignment procedure can take up to six hours to perform. There is no presently commercially available system known which will prevent the laser from coming out of alignment. Further, because eye surgery requires exacting control over the laser that is used to conduct the surgery, the optics of the laser are highly susceptible to vibration during a procedure. Small vibrations transmitted to the optics may move the laser beam to an undesirable location. The floor of the truck or trailer transmits vibrations which may be caused simply by the movement of someone in the trailer. The laser must therefore be isolated from vibrations.